This is a winning combination of sweet honey with the deliciousness of savory rosemary and black pepper with just enough Kosher salt to make them addictive! Let them cool completely before bagging up for gift giving. Snip a little fresh rosemary to include in the container.

Honey Lacquered Almonds With Rosemary & Black Pepper

4 cups raw almonds (buy them at Costco or Sam’s club to save money)

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup raw sugar — also called Demerara cane sugar and can be found in the baking aisle of most grocery stores

Set the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°. Cover two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Distribute the nuts on the baking sheets and toast them in the oven for 10 minutes.

While the almonds are toasting, put the honey, sugar, rosemary, salt and 10 turns of a black pepper grinder into a saucepan. Drizzle the water over the top, making sure to saturate the sugar. Set the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar dissolves and the liquid comes to a boil. Remove from heat and let steep at least 5 minutes.

Remove the toasted almonds from the oven and put into a large bowl. Reheat the honey mixture for a minute or so and then drizzle it over the nuts. Working quickly, use a wooden spoon to stir the nuts, coating them evenly with the honey. Distribute the nuts in a single layer on the parchment-covered baking sheets. If you have any extra glaze leave it in the bowl – too much of it will make the nuts sticky and gooey.

Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Lightly butter or oil your hands, and break up the almonds into chunks. Store in a tightly sealed container, or package into 1-cup gift bags.

To serve, garnish with fleur de sel and rosemary sprig. (fleur de sel is a very special pricey, hand harvest sea salt – I didn’t have any)